Test The Limits
by Navonod
Summary: Skye, Ward and Fitzsimmons are on a mission when the Bus is hit with missiles. They go down. But who survives and what do they do?
1. Chapter 1

_"Can I request a lesson today?" Skye asked, one morning when she and Ward were getting ready to train._

_"Um, maybe. It depends. What is it?" Ward looked surprised._

_"I want to know how to use a parachute," Skye said. _

_"It's not hard."_

_"Okay, but I still want to properly know how to use it," Skye insisted._

_A week ago, Simmons had jumped out of the plane, thinking she had an incurable alien disease and Ward had taken a parachute and saved her. Suddenly the reality and dangers of living on a plane had become clear and Skye wanted to be prepared. _

_"Does this have anything to do with what happened a week ago?" Ward asked, a hint of compassion in his voice._

_"No, it has to do with my true life calling of sky diving," Skye replied sarcastically. "Of course it does. You all know how to use a parachute. I read the plane's little safety exit pamphlet but knowing where the doors are isn't any good unless I'm prepared to exit through them!"_

_Ward held up his hands. "Okay, fair point. Of course I'll teach you."_

_"Thank you," Skye smiled as Ward walked across the room and grabbed one of the parachutes. _

* * *

It was Simmons knocking on her door. Skye could tell because Simmons didn't pound like Ward did; she knocked politely. Without waiting for an answer, the door was slid open and Simmons poked her head in.

"Skye? Get up. We have to go."

"Go where?" Skye asked, blinking a few times before looking at the clock. It was almost nine thirty in the morning.

"Mission," Simmons answered then dashed off.

So Skye dragged herself out of bed, changed quickly, then met the others.

"Where's May and Coulson?" Skye asked. Only Ward, Simmons and Fitz were there, but they looked like they were just waiting for her.

"They had to hurry to the Hub," Ward said. "They took Lola. I just talked to Coulson on the phone, though."

"So what are we doing?" Skye asked. The four of them had done stuff without Coulson and May before, but it wasn't too often.

"We found an 084," Fitz said. He was both excited and wary about this. "It's on the top of a small mountain in South America. It's on an island."

"Alright, so we just go get it then?" Skye asked. She looked at the pictures Ward had put up of a rocky mountain covered poking out from a cover of trees. "Sounds easy enough."

Ward nodded. "I think we're going to fly over the mountain and jump down rather than hike up."

Simmons made a face. "I don't want to jump."

"You'll have a parachute," Fitz said. "You'll be fine, I promise."

"I'll jump with you holding hands, if you want. I'm not to keen on this either. I'd rather hike," Skye said. She looked at Ward, knowing that he'd be the one to make the final call.

"No, it's fine. This should take an hour, max," Ward said. "We'll fly up and I'll get us close to the top of the mountain. You three will jump down and find the 084. Then I'll drop down the ladder and you guys will get back up."

"Hold on, you're not coming with us?" Skye asked. Ward was probably the only one trained to do this properly.

"I have to fly the plane. It's not just going to hover there over the mountain."

"And I'll take it one of you two can't fly it?" Skye asked Fitzsimmons but already knew the answer.

"Nope," Simmons said.

"So get parachutes and your equipment ready. We should be there in half an hour," Ward said, walking back to the cockpit.

"I need food first," Skye said and left in search of some.

* * *

She got herself a muffin and changed into a sweater as she knew that it's colder on the top of a mountain. She grabbed a parachute from the stock as well as some tech equipment that would be useful in finding an 084. With all her things assembled and left on a table, she grabbed a bag of crackers and wandered off.

"Want some goldfish?" Skye asked going in and sitting in the passenger cockpit seat next to Ward.

"Alright. Thanks," Ward said, reaching over and taking a handful of the goldfish crackers. But just as he went to stuff them in his mouth, he dropped them suddenly and his hands went to the steering.

Skye chuckled. "You missed horribly," she informed him.

"Buckle up," Ward said, his eyes trained on the vast sky before them.

Skye did as he said, cautiously. "Why?"

Ward didn't reply. He just flicked switches on the dashboard and steered the plane.

"Is everything okay?" Skye asked quietly, not wanting to distract him.

"No," Ward said without looking away. He pointed to a black dot in the sky. "I think we're being attacked."

"W-what?" Skye blinked. She stared at the black dot as it whizzed closer. Sure enough, it was a missile, headed straight for them.

"Hold on," Ward grunted as he yanked the steering to the left and the plane turned a sharply. They heard a clatter from somewhere in the plane.

Ward reached up and pressed a button. It was the intercom button. "Simmons, Fitz, listen to me. We're being shot at. Grab a parachute just in case and stay safe," he said. Then Ward flipped more switches and tried to speak into a headset. "Hello? Who's shooting? Mayday!" But he got no response, only static.

Skye gripped the sides of her seat tightly. Her knuckles were white.

"Ward, there's another one at eight o'clock," Skye said in a shaky voice, seeing another black dot in the sky.

"Yes, I know, I see the radar," Ward growled.

"Sorry," Skye whispered as the plane dipped a bit.

After five minutes and six more missiles that Ward just managed to avoid, it was getting too impossible. Ward had informed her that the missiles weren't too powerful, but they could still kill or cause a lot of damage. Skye felt like throwing up and her heart was beating far too loudly.

"Crap, crap, crap," Ward muttered. "Skye, where's your parachute?"

"On the table in the kitchen," Skye said. Was it really going to come down to this?

"I need you to get it. There's only one in here," Ward said.

Skye nodded and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I can do that." She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up. Just then Ward made the plane shake and she stumbled over.

"On second though, nope, no, not happening. We can share that one." She sat back down in the seat.

"Skye. You can do it. But you have to hurry," Ward said.

Skye took a deep breath and ran, literally dashed to the little kitchen area where her things were. Holding on to the wall for support as the plane shook, she grabbed everything then ran back to the cockpit as fast as she could.

"Are you okay?" Ward asked her.

"Y-yeah," Skye huffed and sat down, doing up the buckle right away.

But just as her breath slowed down to normal, it happened. Ward was caught between three missiles coming right at him from different angles.

"Skye, I- I can't avoid all three," Ward said, sounding panicked, a tone that Skye doesn't hear often from him.

After putting on the parachute, Skye reached up and pressed the intercom button.

"Fitzsimmons? I love you both," she said as she felt tears in her eyes.

Ward had driven the plane as low as he could so the drop wouldn't be as large, but to avoid the missiles, he then made the plane lurch upwards and he tried to barrel roll to the right. But it didn't work.

The next series of events happened in ten seconds, but for the people involved, it felt like two minutes in extreme slow motion. A missile hit right behind the cockpit but the impact was extremely intense. Ward was ready for it and he threw himself over Skye to protect her from the initial hit, but fell off her a moment after. The bang happened, and the sound was louder than anything Skye had ever heard. She screamed. But she didn't even have time to think about that because all she could think about, aside from a slew of creative curse words, was the intense heat and the sensation of being pushed down. She was falling out of the sky and she had to do something in the two seconds she had. With her eyes closed, she tried to pull the parachute open. She succeeded with a second to spare. It was a blur, but the next thing she knew, amidst the falling pieces of plane and the smell of smoke, she hit water.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey folks! Welcome to my new story! The fun thing about this is that it's pretty much all written already! It's five chapters and I'll post twice a week, Saturdays and Tuesdays. **

**So tell me what you think or make guesses as to what you think'll happen! See you soon, SHIELD fans!**

**P.S. If you're in need of someone to express SDCC feels with (I'm not there but the pics and videos we've gotten has made me super happy) or just need a friend, hit me up. **


	2. Chapter 2

_She had been trained to deal with water. Ward had knocked on her door one morning and told her, "Training. Now. But, um, wear shorts under jeans and don't wear anything...see-through." It was a weird request but she complied and was glad she did when she got to the little make-shift gym to see Ward was waiting there with a hose._

_"What are you doing, washing Lola?" Skye asked._

_"No. Quite the opposite. Coulson wanted us to do this outside but I convinced him to let us stay indoors as long as we don't flood the place or get any water on Lola."_

_"Do what exactly?" Skye asked._

_"Water training," Ward said and smirked at the look at horror on Skye's face._

_"Oh heck no." Skye shook her head. "Nope, nope, nope."_

_"I don't think you have a choice," Ward said. He put down the hose. "You can swim, right?"_

_"Yeah, I can manage. There was a little pond behind the orphanage," she said._

_"Okay, you have shorts on under your jeans, right?"_

_"That's what you told me to do."_

_"Right, good. Okay, so I'm timing you. Take your pants off," Ward instructed, looking at his watch._

_Skye burst out laughing. "Is that a really weird pickup line?"_

_"No I'm serious. I need you to be mature here, Skye," Ward said._

_"I am. I just like to have fun and I think you need to take a leaf out of my book. I'm sure you'd get a lot more girls to take their pants off if you don't scowl all the time."_

_Ward rolled his eyes and sighed. "Look, if I wanted your pants off for that reason, I wouldn't have told you to put shorts on, now would I? Do you trust me, Skye?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Then just do as I say. I'm trying to save lives here."_

_"Alright, alright, fine," Skye sighed. Some days it was just easier to go along with it then fight._

_Ward looked at his watch again. "Okay, I'm timing you. Go."_

_Skye hurriedly unbuttoned her pants and yanked them down. Skinny jeans were always a pain to take off, especially standing up, but she'd never been timed, so the pressure was on. Luckily her shoes were slip-ons so they were easy to get off. It took her twenty six seconds._

_"Alright. That was almost thirty seconds. Now put them back on," Ward said._

_She did but before she could ask why, he picked up the hose._

_She saw what was coming. "Don't you dare!" _

_He dared. He pointed the hose right at her and even smiled a bit as she shrieked. _

_When she was completely soaked and dripping with water, he turned off the hose and smirked proudly as she pushed her wet hair away from her face._

_"Why?" was all she asked, kicking the puddle of water at her feet in his direction. _

_"Well, I was going to let you do it yourself, but this was kind of fun for me. What was that you said a minute ago about me being more fun?" Ward smirked._

_"You're despicable." _

_"I'm okay with that. Anyways, I'm going to time you again. Take your pants off. Ready...go!"_

_This time around, the pants were a lot harder to get off due to the fact that they were basically plastered to her legs now and were really heavy. She was no where close to her twenty six second record from before._

_"Almost a minute," Ward said with disapproval. "Fifty eight seconds. People could die in that fifty eight seconds. The point of this activity is that wet clothes are very hard to manoeuvre with. So, if you ever are in a situation where you get wet, take your clothes off right away. This is also a good way to prevent hypothermia. And if you know you're going to get wet beforehand, take your clothes off before so you can move better."_

_Ward taught her some brief CPR techniques, how to use pants to make a floatation device and a few other things that he deemed important but she didn't think so. The only good thing about this training session in Skye's opinion was near the end when Ward accidentally slipped in the water and fell to his knees. She took the opportunity to kick more water on him and laugh. Even he laughed a bit. _

* * *

The water was cold. Somehow, she remembered to hold her breath. She was pulled down but kicked her way up to the surface. She hadn't gone down too far thanks to the parachute. Pushing her mess of hair off her face, she looked around and took deep breaths of the precious air that smelled of smoke and gas. All around her was water and plane debris that was quickly sinking. This was really happening. The plane, her home, was gone. And so was her family.

"Ward!" Skye called, looking around for him. "Simmons! Fitz!" But she saw no one. She recognized a few things floating around, like a chair from the lounge and a few boxes. Everything else was gone.

The mountain they were traveling to wasn't too far and land was even closer. She could swim there. Though it's not like she had a choice.

Just as she had started to kick her way towards shore, she heard a yelp from behind her. It was somehow the best sound she had ever heard. She turned to see two heads that were just barely up. Each wave that came by engulfed them.

Skye swam over, going against the current.

"Fitz! Are you two okay?" Skye asked, happy to see them.

"Oh, Skye, thank goodness," Fitz said. "You have to help me. Simmons is the better swimmer but she must have hit her head and I can't..." He was crying and having trouble holding Simmons' limp body up. Their parachutes had been unclipped by Fitz and were floating away, but those weren't important now.

"Calm down," Skye said. "And keep her head above water."

"I'm trying," Fitz mumbled and splashed his arms around.

"Oh, wait, I have an idea," Skye said. Doing her best to tread water, she pulled off her pants, one leg at a time so she could make sure she didn't lose her shoes. With them off, she tied the pant legs off so they could hold air. She swung her pants up so air filled them and they acted like a floatation device.

"Here," Skye said, giving it to Fitz. "If it goes out of air just blow more in. I'll take Simmons. Go right to the shore."

"Thank you," Fitz said, and he meant it.

"We'll be okay," Skye said as if saying it equaled believing it. Skye took Simmons from Fitz's arms and pulled her on her chest so her head was tucked under Skye's. Skye turned so she lay on her back and she kicked her way backwards towards the shore. It was hard and limp Simmons was heavy, but she persevered and kept kicking.

"Are you doing okay?" Fitz asked after a few moments.

"Uh-huh," Skye grunted. She wasn't exactly in a great position to carry a conversation. She turned her head a bit so she could see how much further they had to go. Not far, as she was pleased to see. But she also saw Fitz suddenly turn and swim in the opposite direction.

"Fitz! Where are you going?"

Fitz pointed to a box floating a bit away from them. "See that box? I need to get it. Because we were in a plane, there were a few indestructible and unsinkable boxes where we put safely and survival things."

Skye managed a small grateful smile.

* * *

Fitz had managed to get two boxes that he was manoeuvring, and Skye still was making sure that Simmons' head stayed above water. But soon enough, they were pretty much at the shore. Skye was able to stand up in the water, which made supporting Simmons a lot easier, and that was great considering that she was extremely tired and in pain. Fitz was next to her, looking with worry at Simmons, and looking stressed out.

"Skye," Fitz said. He had taken a moment to take a breath and turned around to see the open body of water that was now housing the remnants of their plane.

"What?" Skye asked.

"Is that a person?"

Skye's heart jumped and she turned around quickly to see a figure in the distance.

"It's Ward!" Skye said, not even trying to hide the glee in her voice. She had been wondering about him, but had pushed away the worry and sadness until they got on land and she would actually be able to think clearly. "He's alive!"

"He doesn't seem to be swimming properly," Fitz said.

"I'm going to help him. Can you take Simmons?"

Fitz nodded. "I can carry her now that I can stand." They transferred the scientist carefully before Skye swam off to Ward.

It took her a few minutes to swim out to him. When she got closer, it was clear that he wasn't swimming normally.

"Skye?" Ward asked as if he couldn't believe it was really her. He looked glad she was there, though.

"Are you rusting up in this water, robot?" she joked and was glad she did because he kind of smiled.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Are you?"

"Um, not the best. My left leg is broken and I dislocated my right shoulder so I can't really swim that well," he said. Normally he would speak of injuries like that as being 'nothing', but things have changed now.

Skye swam over to his side and pulled his injured arm over her shoulder.

"Alright, this is like a weird three-legged race," she said. He didn't reply.

It was tricky, but they managed to move themselves towards shore.

"You're a good swimmer," Ward remarked.

She shrugged. "I read once that adrenaline makes the body do weird things. I'm surprised I'm doing this well."

"Are Fitzsimmons alive?" Ward asked after a moment. He almost didn't want to know the answer.

"Fitz is fine. A little shaken, but fine. Simmons is alive but knocked out. Getting her to the shore was hard."

"She'll be okay?"

"Don't ask me. I hope so. I hope this all has a happy ending because right now I think I want to drown." It was only half a joke. She was actually really tired and really wanted to get to shore and just rest.

Luckily, shore was close by now. And within another ten minutes, she and Ward were able to stand up. They could see Fitz tending to Simmons on the beach. There were tracks in the sand from where he dragged her, but he had her lying in some shade from an overhanging tree. She still seemed knocked out.

"Hey, where are your pants?" Ward asked. By now they were close enough that the water was at their knees.

"Oh, remember how you taught me how to use pants to make a flotation device? Yeah, I did that and gave it to Fitz."

Ward looked impressed. "Good job." Skye's sweater was now heavy with water and stretched down to make a mini-dress.

Finally they were at the shore. As soon as they were out of the water, Skye fell to the sand so fast that Ward thought she collapsed.

"Skye! Are you okay?" He kneeled down as best he could next to her and moved her sopping hair out of her face. Skye noticed his hands were shaking.

"Yeah," Skye breathed. "I'm just really tired." She opened her eyes a bit so prove that she was still alive.

Ward sat down more comfortably next to her slowly, doing his best to not groan in pain.

"You did good," he said. "But come on, let's go to the shade."

They kind of supported each other as they hobbled to the shade where Fitz and Simmons were.

* * *

**A/N**

**Oooh chapter two! I've been so exited to post another chapter! :) Especially since y'all seemed to be liking it so far. As you can tell now, everyone is is alive (to some extent). I could never kill them off...or can I? Mwahaha. Anyways, see you on Saturday for chapter 3!**


	3. Chapter 3

_It was after a particularly bad mission. They had all almost died. Twice. Skye had also been involved in some very physical combat, which was new. So, due to that, she was very jittery and paranoid the day after, as they all were to some degree._

_"Hey, Skye, I-" Ward began, standing up from the bench he was sitting on._

_"Gah!" Skye jumped, startled by him. "Don't do that!" Her hands were in fists, ready to throw, but once she saw that it was just him, her shoulders relaxed and her hand went to her heart to feel the beats slow down. _

_"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But to be fair, I wasn't hiding or anything, I was just sitting there."_

_"Yeah, I know, sorry. I'm just...on edge." She didn't have to explain why. "Plus, Coulson's got me doing research on this guy who's basically non-existent and I'm kind of lost in thought."_

_"That's called stress and anxiety," Ward told her, frowning in concern._

_"I know. It's getting to me," she admitted._

_"Then tell me. Stress and panic attacks can be common with SHIELD people considering the line of work. I know a bunch of breathing tricks to calm oneself down. Even May does tai chi and yoga."_

_Skye smirked. "Do you do that too? Put on stretchy pants and do the downward dog?"_

_Ward almost laughed. "If you ever catch me doing that, I give you full permission to shoot me in the face with a night-night gun."_

_Skye burst out laughing. Suddenly she wasn't feeling so stressed and nervous. _

_"Okay, well, good talk. This helped," Skye said, patting Ward's arm as she turned to walk away._

_He grabbed her wrist. "Ah, hold on. Sit down. We're going to do some breathing exercises."_

_"I have asthma," Skye told him, trying to pull away._

_"You're such a liar. Sit down." He was smiling nonetheless_

_She sighed and sat down cross-legged. He did the same across from her. _

_"Pursed lip breathing, like you taste something sour," Ward said, puckering his lips weirdly. "Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth."_

_Skye did just that, and though it felt silly, concentrating on her breathing helped her not focus on other things. Her body felt relaxed and calm._

* * *

The boxes that Fitz got from the water were the best thing to happen to them. Inside were an assortment of medicines, some protein bars, a lighter, a blanket, bandages, rope and many other extremely useful things. But what Ward had was maybe the most important. From his pocket he pulled a little device that they all recognized as the communicator that would allow them to send for an extraction team. All their cellphones were waterlogged and completely unusable, so this little device that Ward had, which was luckily water-proof, was their only means of communication.

The bad news is that it wasn't getting any signal. It'd work from up the mountain, they reasoned. It was their only hope.

"We'll deal with it tomorrow," Ward said. "Right now, we need to rest and heal."

He had managed to relocate his shoulder by ramming it into a tree trunk, but it still hurt a bit. He also made a tree branch splint for his leg, which was a clean break, according to Fitz.

Simmons still was unconscious, which worried them all, but there was nothing to be done. There was a small bump on her head. Fitz said it wasn't life threatening and bandaged it up as best he could.

* * *

Even though it was the middle of the day, they all tried to sleep for a few hours, but it wasn't a comfortable sleep at all. Eventually Skye decided that she was done trying to sleep and just decided to get up. She walked over to the edge of the water. The cold water splashed up on her feet but she hardly felt it because she was so lost in thought.

She mindlessly ran her fingers through her hair. The good news was that it dried in neat waves, the bad news was that it still probably looked like a frizzy mess.

"Hey," Fitz said, coming to stand next to her. He sounded so sad.

"Hi," Skye said gently. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I did for an hour or two but then I just lay there awake for another two," Fitz replied. "I just...can't believe it."

Skye nodded. "I know what you mean." She pointed to the vast water in front of them. "Somewhere down there is our plane. All our stuff, our files...gone."

"Research we'll never get back," Fitz said with a sad head shake.

"What will May say?" Skye asked. That plane was her baby.

"Well if I know May, probably nothing. She might glare though," Fitz said and Skye chuckled. "Coulson on the other hand, he'll have some choice words."

"It's not our fault!" Skye said, but telling Fitz that was pointless because he knew it just as well.

They were silent for a moment, just staring out at the sparkling water. It would be such a pretty sight if they hadn't almost died in it. Skye put her head on Fitz's shoulder.

"Thanks for pretty much saving us today," Fitz said. "I would have probably drowned us both."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Skye said. "We'll all be okay."

"I hope so," Fitz began. "I wonder if-"

Skye never found out what he was wondering because as he was speaking, Fitz looked over his shoulder to see Simmons blearily sitting up. He ran over and Skye followed.

"Don't move too much," Fitz said to her, kneeling down.

Simmons blinked and looked around. "What happened?"

"We were hit with missiles," Skye said. "The Bus is gone." Saying it to her sounded weird but felt even weirder.

"You hit your head, I think," Fitz said. "Do you remember that?"

"Not really," Simmons said. "I remember being ready for the missile, but that's it. I can tell we went down by the fact that my clothes are wet."

"Does you head hurt?" Skye asked.

"Yes, but it's okay," Simmons said. "I'll be fine. Are you guys okay?"

"A little cut up but okay. Ward has a broken leg, though. He also had a dislocated shoulder but he fixed it," Skye said.

"Also, Skye isn't wearing pants," Fitz said.

Skye flicked him. "Yeah, because that's relevant."

"What happened to your pants?" Simmons asked.

"I made a flotation device."

"Ahh, clever."

* * *

It was dinner time but no one was hungry. Skye said that if she ate, she would probably throw up. They were all jittery and quiet.

"I'm gonna walk around. Explore a bit," Skye said, standing up. Her pants were pretty much dry now, so she shoved them on.

"I'll come," Simmons volunteered.

"No, you stay there. You were unconscious for about half the day. There's no way we're letting you do anything, and I think you know that too. I'll be fine."

"I would come but..." Ward motioned to his leg. "Don't do anything stupid."

"When do I ever?" Skye smiled and walked off.

It started out as a normal looking forest. Trees and rocks and moss all around. She saw a few birds, but other than that, no wildlife. It seemed pretty safe. The landscape eventually started sloping up as the mountain that they were supposed to be at the top of began.

She went up a bit, enjoying the view, but didn't want to go to far lest she got lost. Plus, it was getting dark. Once she got to a cliff that overlooked the water, she sat down. It was a good place to stop. Twelve hours ago, she was still asleep, on the Bus. She had no fears and no worries then. She was safe then. And now she was on some random island and if they couldn't get a signal, who knows how long they could be stuck for. They could die here.

She normally was a chill person. Things didn't faze her and she could roll with whatever came her way. Normally. Right now, as she stared out at the seemingly endless horizon and the waters that her team almost drowned in, she wasn't chill at all.

She felt panic rising in her chest as she thought about the possibility that they all may die out here. Her hands started shaking. Closing her eyes tightly, she concentrated on her breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Within a few minutes, she felt better. Her hands stopped shaking and she her felt calmer.

Deciding she'd had enough of her little adventure, she turned around and walked back the way she came. She arrived to see Ward tending to a small fire.

"Skye, you're back!" Simmons said, smiling at her. "How was your walk?"

"Alright. There's nothing interesting out here." She sat down next to Simmons. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

"I wish we had marshmallows," Fitz said, starting at the bright flames.

"Yes, because we're injured and trapped on an island, but sugar is what we wish for," Ward said with a small glare.

Fitz just smiled.

* * *

"Hey, Skye. Come here," Ward said. He sat on the other side of the fire.

"Why?"

"I want to talk to you and I don't want to wake Fitzsimmons up."

They both glanced over at the duo, who were curled up together sleeping. It was endearing.

"Also, I think I have water in my ear so my hearing isn't very good," Ward said.

"Me too," Skye said and scooted over so she sat next to him. "How's your leg?"

"Still broken. It doesn't hurt too much, but I think I'm just used to the pain now."

"Good," Skye said. Like she apparently had a habit of doing, she stared out at the water. It was so dark out now that she could hardly tell where the water ended and the sky started. That made it a lot scarier.

"What could we have done differently?" Skye asked quietly.

"You? Nothing. Me? A lot, probably," Ward said.

"Don't blame yourself. You did your best," Skye said, looking at him. His cheekbones cast weird shadows on his face thanks to the flickering fire light. But his dark eyes glistened.

"It's hard not to when I was controlling the plane. I should have been able to avoid it all..."

"But you weren't shooting the missiles. Ward, no one here blames you. I sure don't. Heck, you may have saved my life when you covered me just when we were hit," Skye said. She stared right at him as if that'd help him believe.

He didn't reply, but the right side of his mouth twitched up in probably the best attempt at a smile she'll get from him.

Skye got up and grabbed the blanket from the box.

"Did you want this too?" Skye asked, sitting back down next to Ward.

"No thanks."

"Eh, I'll share anyways." And the blanket was thrown over his shoulders too.

The only sound was the crackles from the fire, which occurred mostly because Skye had a stick and was poking at the burning twigs.

"We'll see May and Coulson again, right?" Skye asked. "We'll get off this island?"

"Yeah," Ward replied. Was he just saying that to make her feel better or did he actually mean it?

"Do you really think we'll get a signal on the mountain?"

"I hope so. But... I don't know."

Skye exhaled and closed her eyes. What she'd give to be safe and back on that plane...

* * *

**A/N**

**Posting a few hours earlier than normal because I'm going to a wedding, so lucky you!**

**Welp, there's chapter three. I hoped you liked it. I've gotten a great response so far and I'm so grateful. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed and faved because I love your love. **

**Um, as for a bit of self promotion, I recently (finally) got tumblr. Like, yesterday. We'll see how this goes. I have zero followers and don't even know how to start finding people to follow, so if you wanna help me out, my URL is coolbeansfangirl, but be warned that I am multi fandom so I understand if you don't wanna follow :) Anyways, that is all. Thanks bye.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Skye was sitting on the floor, waiting for Ward so they could start training. He finally stalked in with a smirk on his face._

_"What's that look for?" Skye asked. Ward's face almost never changed from his stony grimace._

_"You're going to hate me today," Ward said._

_Skye frowned. "Why? What did you do?"_

_"It's more of what you'll do," Ward said, kind of smiling in anticipation. "Today we're going to work on doing some pull ups."_

_Skye must have groaned for five whole minutes._

_"Please no! Come on! I'll do sit ups! I'll punch the bag! I'll punch a wall! Please don't make me do pull ups!" Skye pouted._

_Ward shook his head. "Nope, you have to do it."_

_"Ward! Please don't make me," Skye said. She tried to give him big puppy eyes but he was like a brick and wouldn't fall for that._

_"Come on. We'll start easy. Ten for today."_

_"How about five and I'll play you in Battleship?"_

_"Nine and five sit-ups."_

_"Six and ten sit ups?"_

_"No."_

_"Fine, I'll take the nine and five deal. But let it be known that I dislike you very much," Skye glared at him._

_"I think I can live with that," Ward said dryly but looked very amused._

_So with instructions from Ward, Skye did pull ups. She wasn't very good at them and after her nine she was about ready to collapse, but they were done. _

_"I hate that. I hate you. I hate training," Skye announced, getting a drink of water._

_"Okay, but it's important and it's what you wanted," Ward told her. "You'll get better at them the more you do it."_

_Skye just rolled her eyes._

* * *

"Skye. Skye."

Someone was shaking her arm, each shake a bit more forceful than the last.

She opened her eyes, adjusting to the fresh rising sunlight.

She sat up on the blanket that she had slept on.

Ward, who had resided on the other end of the blanket, was shaking Skye awake.

"Morning," Skye said to them all, shaking sand out of her hair.

"Are you hungry? There's a few protein bars left," Simmons said, holding out one for Skye. Skye took it because she hadn't eaten since the goldfish crackers and she was actually really hungry now. The bar was gone in ten seconds.

"What time is it?" Skye asked.

"Time to get off this darned island," Fitz said. He was busy sorting the useful things from the boxes. They couldn't carry the boxes up the mountain but they may need some things.

Ward looked up at the sun. "It's about six thirty, I'd say." He must have seen the look of disgust on Skye's face. "You need to get moving now before it gets too hot."

Skye nodded then paused. "Wait, I have to get moving? This isn't a we thing?"

"Well it can be a you three thing, but I can't walk," Ward said. "And I don't think Simmons should go."

"We can help you," Skye insisted.

"Skye. Be realistic. Up a mountain?"

She knew he was right. "Alright."

"Here, Skye, put these things in your pockets," Fitz said, handing her things. He also had some things, that he was shoving in his pockets.

They were all silent for a moment and they all knew what it meant: it was time to go.

Skye stood up and grabbed the little communicator device to call for an extraction team. "Here's hoping this works. If not, going all the way up there will be for nothing."

"Well, keep an eye out for the 084," Simmons said. "We may be able to kill two birds with one stone."

Skye nodded. "Okay. Are you ready, Fitz?"

Fitz sighed and stood up too. "I guess so."

Skye went over and hugged Simmons.

"Bye," Skye said.

"Good luck," Simmons said. She lowered her voice and added, "And watch out for Fitz, okay? He may pretend to be Mr. Macho and seem fine but you know he's not cut out for mountain work."

"Of course. Don't worry about us. Take care of Ward," Skye said, letting go of Simmons. Right away, Fitz swooped in and hugged her.

Skye turned to Ward, who had a hand held out.

"Help me up."

When he was up and balancing mostly on his good leg, he faced her, looking right in her eyes.

"This isn't going to be easy, you know that," he began.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Skye chuckled.

Ward put his hand on her shoulder. "Just...be safe. And go fast. But don't tire yourselves out."

"I know," she nodded.

"I know you can do it. I believe in you."

She rolled her eyes. "Are you just saying that because I'm your only hope?"

"No! I know you're tough and won't give up, but this is quite a challenge. I'm just making sure you know that I, as your SO, am confident in your abilities," Ward said.

Skye smiled. "Thanks."

Ward awkwardly hugged her.

"You got this," he whispered in her ear.

They broke apart and finally they were ready to go.

"Alright, Leopold, let's go," Skye said, grinning.

"Don't call me that," Fitz mumbled. He and Skye gave one last wave to Simmons and Ward before they set off into the trees.

* * *

Three hours later, Skye and Fitz had made good progress. They had gone up considerably high, taking a small winding path. It was slightly dangerous in a few places, but for the most part, they were okay.

The two of them got along well considering how different they were, personality wise. But Fitz had many stories about his and Simmons' days at the academy, and Skye, who missed out on a college experience like that, loved to hear them, just like Fitz didn't mind listening to Skye's tales of living in a van.

Luckily, so far, it wasn't too hot out. But Skye could tell it'd get worse as time went on. There wasn't any shade, but she was hoping that if it got too hot and they needed a break that they could find a little cave or something to wait in. Who knew what was up that mountain.

After a while, their path started to not be a path and it was up to Skye to choose how they go. For the most part everything was fine, until they got to a slim cliff. There was no way they could step there.

"What are we going to do?" Fitz asked. There was desperation in his voice.

Skye bit the inside of her cheek as she looked around.

"There!" Skye pointed to a little cliff above them. "Get me up there and I'll pull you up."

"Is that safe?"

"Um, safe is a matter of opinion," Skye said. "Come on, it's the only way."

So Fitz helped Skye up so she could pull herself on to the cliff. When she was up, she grabbed his hands and pulled him up.

"See, was that so bad?"

"Well, no, but I don't want to do it again."

* * *

It was almost two in the afternoon. And it was hot. Skye was glad she had a hair elastic around her wrist because having her hair up helped a lot. There was no helping her legs, trapped in her black jeans. Fitz took off his shirt, but had long pants on too.

Their terrain was really finicky now. More and more did they have to step on risky rocks or hold on to something tightly as they moved. The good news was that they were almost at the top.

"Skye, I...can't do this," Fitz mumbled. He was trudging behind her, the distance between them getting larger and larger.

Skye sighed and stopped. She looked at Fitz. His face was blotchy and his whole body glistened with sweat. He didn't look good at all.

"I'm really not feeling fine," Fitz said.

"Okay, yeah, take a seat. We'll rest," Skye said, sitting down and tugging at her shirt to let air in. She wasn't feeling the best either. She was tired and sometimes felt dizzy. Plus she was at the stage where she was so hot that sometimes she felt cold.

"We're almost there," Skye said, trying to keep the spirit alive. "Another half an hour maybe."

Fitz was breathing deeply. "Skye, I can't. I literally am going to die on this mountain."

"No, you're not. We can do this!"

Fitz moaned. "No...I can't."

Skye didn't reply. She just let him rest. Like she had been doing every so often, she pulled out the communicator and tried it for a signal. Still nothing.

She and Fitz sat and rested for a while longer. They were still in the hot sun, so it didn't do that much, but she did feel less woozy.

"Are you ready to go on?" Skye asked gently.

"No," Fitz mumbled. "I'm being serious, I don't think I can go on."

"Fitz, we have to! Come on," Skye pleaded. She paused then said, "Do it for Simmons!"

At the sound of Simmons' name, Fitz's face changed to a look of determination.

"If we don't get get a signal, we'll be stuck on this island for who knows how long! Simmons was already hurt and it could get worse," Skye continued.

Fitz slowly stood up. "Okay. Let's go. For Simmons."

* * *

That burst of drive lasted ten minutes. Then Fitz got so badly dizzy that he almost fell off a cliff. And that was the line for Skye. She knew that pushing Fitz any more was wrong and dangerous.

"Okay, that's it," Skye said, steadying him. "Take a seat. You're not going any further."

He didn't protest. "I'm sorry," he whispered with tears in his eyes. He wasn't a quitter under normal circumstances.

"It's okay. You did awesome," Skye said, helping him sit down.

"Are you going to keep going?" Fitz asked, noticing that she didn't sit down.

Skye nodded. "I have to."

Fitz shook his head. "No. Just wait it out and we can both go on when it's cooler and we're in better shape."

"No can do," Skye told him. "We're almost at the top. I can do this."

"No, Skye..."

"I'll be fine. Seriously," Skye said. She didn't give him a chance to reply because she turned and hiked off.

* * *

She managed to go faster without Fitz because she wasn't constantly turning around to make sure that he was still there. Granted, she still wasn't feeling great, and with every step she got slightly more tired. Her clothes stuck to her in very uncomfortable ways, but she persevered. It was all up to her. She could hear Ward's voice in her head, telling her "You got this."

* * *

She climbed up to a little ledge and sat down for a moment. From where he sat she could see a bit of beach poking out from the trees. Maybe Ward and Simmons were down there somewhere. She pulled out the communicator and tried it again. Her heart leapt when she saw the little light on it flicker. It hadn't done that before. Even though the light went out a second after, it was enough to give Skye a bit of hope. Surely it'd work as soon as she got to the very top, which she almost was.

She shoved the communicator back in her pocket and stood up. With a new spring in her step, she kept climbing. Just as she reached small landing almost at the top, she noticed something. A few meters up and wedged in a little cavern was a small black box no bigger than a Rubik's cube. It had purple lights and it looked very out of place.

At first she thought she was imagining it. The heat must have been getting to her. But then she realized: that must be the 084.

She had to go around a bit and climb awkwardly up and out of the way to get herself to that spot, but she managed to get to the level that the 084 was on.

She had enough sense not to pick it up right away. Fitzsimmons never touched anything without safety material on. But she didn't exactly have gloves or anything. So she took a rock and threw it at the box. The rock simply bounced off. So she carefully nudged it with her shoe. Nothing. So, with no other option and caution thrown to the wind, Skye picked up the 084 with her bare hands. Nothing happened.

Skye looked at the box closely, but it looked like a normal black plastic box with some purple light inside. She couldn't open it, nor did she want to. With the 084 in hand, she now had to keep going up the mountain. She was so close she could see it. She walked along the correct ledge she was on, trying to find a good way to get up a level.

When she couldn't find a good way up, she decided to make the best of a possible way. It was risky, but doable. She first tossed the 084 up so she had her hands free. Then she took a huge step onto a little outward rock that her foot could easily fit on. But it wasn't stable. The rock broke away under her and she only just managed to grab on to the cliff, screeching slightly but not loud enough for Fitz to hear. She was hanging there. How she wasn't sliding off due to sweaty hands was a miracle. Somehow she was able to keep calm, though her heart was pounding. Glancing down slightly, she could see that if she dropped, she'd probably die. It was a long, rocky way down.

"Okay, Skye, come on. Just get up. You can do it," she muttered to herself. "Pull yourself together." Then she grimaced at her accidental pun.

She tried to find something on the wall that she could slip her foot in so she could push herself up, but there was nothing useful.

She should have done more pull-ups with Ward during training and prepared her body because she really couldn't hang on much longer. The pressure of doing so made her sweat even more.

She needed to get on solid ground, and fast. To her right she saw a small indent that could probably support her. She needed to shuffle over to the right a bit, which was hard to do. Her arms ached like crazy but she forced herself to keep going. She wasn't going to die this way. The could feel her hands being scraped as she shuffled them along the coarse rock. She extended her right leg out as far as she could, but it wasn't enough. If she wanted to reach, she was going to have to swing over, which meant she had to let go with one hand.

She knew it wasn't safe. She knew she could fall and die. She knew that she could be letting down her whole team if she fell. She couldn't help but snicker at another accidental bad pun.

"Okay. Here we go," Skye took a deep breath, counted to three in her head and before she had a chance to over think it, she let go with her left hand and used as much force as she could to swing her body over to the right. Her right hand, which still clung on to the cliff was shaking badly. Luckily, her plan worked enough because she managed to wedge her foot into the small indent and keep her body up.

With tremendous effort, she pushed and pulled herself up so her belly was on the level. Then, slowly, she crawled forward so her whole body was up. She was soaked from head to toe with sweat. She was pretty much crying. She was dirty and grimy and her hands were scraped and starting to bleed a bit. She was gasping for breath.

This was it. This was where she would die. She was too tired to go on, even though she was about one small cliff from the top. She couldn't go on. She lay still, panting and trying to block the glaring sun from her face. Slowly, she pulled the communicator out of her pocket.

That green light flickered on again. And it stayed on. She had a signal. She slammed her thumb down on the button and the device made a little beeping sound.

Success.

Skye closed her eyes.

* * *

**A/N**

**Ooohh guys! This is the second last chapter, which means that on Saturday, y'all will read the last one! :O I can't tell you enough how much I love you all who read this and reviewed and followed because I want to hug you all. Anyways, this chapter has some Fitz and Skye friendship, which I don't think we see enough. Any guesses for the last chapter as to what'll happen? P.S. by the way, pretend the whole Hydra thing never happened for this fic, okay? Okay.**


	5. Chapter 5

_"What was it like to become an agent?" Skye asked as she and Ward were driving to a location of a threat. _

_Ward shrugged and kept his eyes focused on the road. "Um, fine. Why?"_

_"I want to know. It's a big deal," Skye told him._

_He sighed like he had better things to do, but answered it anyways. "It was like...finally not being seen as a nothing. I came from a family where I was noticed, but not in a good way. And then when I came to SHIELD and started excelling, it was weird to be doing good and feeling good about it. That badge is a cheap piece of metal but it symbolizes that you're a part of something special and that makes you special."_

_"I want that," Skye said. "I want to be a something."_

_Ward smiled and looked away from the road so to glance over at her. "You're on your way to that. It'll take a while but you'll get there eventually if you keep working at it."_

_"Good because I don't want to be a rookie anymore," Skye said. _

_Ward snickered. "I don't care if you've hit level ten clearance, you will always be a dorky rookie to me."_

_Skye laughed. "I'm not a dork!"_

* * *

She didn't know what it was, but something told her to wake up. So she did. Slowly, Skye opened her eyes. And she was not where she expected. She was in a small gray room with plain cement walls. The room wasn't empty. In the room was a rectangular mirror on the north wall and a white leather chair that looked like the chairs in a dentists' office. Skye lay in that chair. She was cuffed in at the wrists and ankles, but a second later, the cuffs popped open. Next to her was a small stand that supported a high-tech computer. Her hands were face down on what she assumed to be sensors and they were connected to the computer by a wire, and there were sensor wires stuck to her temples.

Where was she? What happened to the mountain and the 084 and Ward and Fitzsimmons? She was very confused.

Scared that the cuffs would close back on her, she quickly pulled off the wires attached to her head and got up out of the chair.

Just then, the small door opened. In stepped Ward.

"Ward!" Skye breathed, glad to see him. She hurried over to him. "Wait, your leg! How are you walking?"

Ward glanced down at his leg then gave a weird smile like he was hiding something.

"It's okay. How are you feeling?" Ward said, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Fine. What's going on?" Skye looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"Don't you remember?" His tone was somewhat mocking.

"No..." Skye said. Somehow, she felt like she should be remembering something really obvious, but for the life of her, she didn't know what.

"Come on," Ward said, leading her down a dark hallway to another door. "Go in," he told her.

"You first," Skye said. This was weird. And why did he have this weird smirk on his face? What was going on?

Ward didn't reply or go first. He just waited for her to go in and stared at her with an odd twinkle in his eyes.

It was kind of creeping her out, so she grabbed the door handle and slowly turned it.

She entered the room and was immediately attacked with a hug by Simmons. Even Fitz hugged her politely.

"Fitz, are you okay?" Skye asked. "I was worried that I had left you for dead and I'm sorry."

Fitz grinned. "I'm just fine."

Someone in the room cleared their throat in an obvious way to get the attention. Skye looked over and noticed that there were many people in the room.

Coulson and May were there for starts. Skye was so glad to see them considering she thought she never would again. They were smiling at her and she grinned back, though their smiles were like Ward's in the sense that they clearly knew something she didn't.

Victoria Hand was also there with Agent Blake, Agent Sitwell and several other SHIELD agents that Skye didn't recognize. They were all smiling, which was weird because normally when Skye was around a bunch of the top SHIELD agents, they were in strict business mode and didn't have time to smile.

The person who had cleared their throat was Hand. She looked right at Skye.

"Congratulations. You passed the simulation," Hand said to Skye.

Skye blinked. "What?"

"The simulation. Your plane explosion, the mountain, the 084...it was all a simulation."

"It...what?" Skye was so confused. "It wasn't real?"

"Not at all. Those sensors and wires that you had attached to you allowed you to experience any set simulation. Your fellow team members volunteered to be in it, while Agents Coulson and May sat on the panel that evaluated you."

Skye looked at her team, who nodded and smiled as if to say 'you're welcome'.

And just then, like a strange sense of déjà vu, Skye remembered it all. She remembered arriving at the Hub and being taken to that gray room, where she willingly sat in the chair and allowed a person to wire her up and attach her to the computer.

"In your simulation you showed all the necessary skills that a SHIELD agent needs, such as determination, courage, perseverance, and human traits like compassion and respect. You not only did everything you could to help your team, but you did everything you could to get off the island using problem solving and the training that you had."

Skye looked over and grinned at Ward, who looked pleased.

"And furthermore, you went out of your way to retrieve the 084," Hand said. "That simulation marked the final exam of our training program. So it gives me great pleasure to officially present you, Skye, with your well-earned SHIELD badge. Welcome to the company." Hand held out a small box to Skye as everyone in the room applauded. Simmons and Fitz cheered.

Skye took it with shaky hands and opened it to reveal a shiny new SHIELD badge.

Skye beamed and yet still wanted to cry. "For real? This right now isn't a simulation either?"

Hand shook her head and smiled. "The simulation is always the last test to decide, and you passed."

"Thank you," Skye said. She turned to her team, who looked so proud. "Thank you."

She was an actual real SHIELD agent now.

* * *

They were back on the Bus. It was perfectly in tact, which Skye was very glad to see. She had taken it for granted before but no more.

May had the plane on autopilot so they could all celebrate together. Fitz poured champagne for them all.

Skye sat on the couch, staring at her new badge. She still couldn't believe it.

"Oh, you must be over the moon!" Simmons exclaimed, sitting down next to Skye.

"I am! I just can't believe that it was all fake! And none of you told me!"

Simmons laughed. "Why do you think I was unconscious for most of it? It was so I wouldn't give it away. You know I'm a bad liar!"

Skye giggled. "I'm glad you guys were in the simulation. I probably wouldn't have done nearly as well without your encouragement." She directed the last sentence to Ward mostly.

They all held up champagne glasses in a toast.

"To Skye, who's finally an agent, and deservedly so," Coulson said. "I made the right choice letting you stay with us."

"To Skye," the all echoed and clinked glasses.

"Or, should we say, Agent Skye," May said.

Slowly, their little party died down and it got really late. May was the first to leave, then Coulson, and then Fitzsimmons. Everyone bid one last congrats to Skye before they left. Eventually it was just Skye and Ward left. Ward had been leaning against the wall, but slowly came over and sat next to her on the couch.

"You should get some sleep. It's late. Even agents need sleep," he remarked.

She just smiled at him. "Like I'd be able to sleep now; I'm too happy."

He did a half smile. "You earned that. You've come a long way."

"Thanks. I'm just glad to finally be an official part of something I want to be a part of. SHIELD is really like my family now."

"You didn't need a badge for that. You're already like family to us," he said.

Skye blushed a bit. "Yeah, well, this officiates it."

Ward stood up. "Well, goodnight Agent Skye. See you in the morning for training. That doesn't end now that you're an agent."

Skye laughed. "Thank you, Ward. For everything."

Ward smiled. "You're welcome."

Skye was then alone. Just her and her new badge. It still shone, even in the dim light.

She thought about the whole ordeal she just went through on that simulated island and looked at her new pride and joy.

So worth it.

* * *

**A/N**

**Haha who saw that coming? It was all fake! And now you can understand how hilarious the title of the fic is. TEST The Limits. Get it? Because it was all a TEST? Oh man, I am funny. **

**Okay, so, real talk now. That was the end. Yes, this was the last chapter. Thanks to all who read it and gave such positive feedback. I had two people offer out ideas and theories for this story, which was greatly appreciated, but since I pre-wrote it and knew that it was all going to be a simulation, I couldn't use the ideas. **

**Anyways, as it stands, I have nothing else written so if you have ideas or prompts or anything, I'd love to hear them. :) Send them via PM or review or leave an ask on my tumblr (which you should totally follow) coolbeansfangirl (the link is in my bio).**

**Thanks. See you around. *thumbs up***


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